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BOEHNER UNFILTERED – SPEAKER ‘MOCKS GOP COLLEAGUES ON IMMIGRATION REFORM’ – Cincinnati Enquirer’s Sheila McLaughlin: “House Speaker John Boehner theatrically mocked his fellow Republican Congressmen for being afraid to reform immigration policy when he spoke Thursday before the Middletown Rotary Club in his home district. ‘Here's the attitude. Ohhhh. Don't make me do this. Ohhhh. This is too hard,’ Boehner whined before a luncheon crowd at Brown's Run County Club in Madison Township. ‘We get elected to make choices. We get elected to solve problems and it's remarkable to me how many of my colleagues just don't want to.’" http://goo.gl/UR1Y3J

OCEAN CROSSING (But we are not authorized to say which one)....Playbook founder Michael Patrick Allen is jetting back home at this very moment. Your guest writers thank him for putting us in the George Plimpton role for an enjoyable few days. And we thank our researcher, Daniel Lippman, who does terrific work. Mike has a great eye for talent.

SEOUL MAN—The president’s four-nation Asian journey continues, with CNN reporting overnight that Obama arrived in the South Korean capital “to news that North Korea may be counting down to a nuclear weapons test. Such moves out of Pyongyang are no surprise and are typical for the North’s behavior, Obama told reporters in Tokyo, his previous stop on his Asia trip. The president said he is prepared to deliver a firm response, if a test is conducted during his visit.” http://goo.gl/7jBc8y

THINKING ABOUT ASIA—Your guest Playbookers are by no means Asia experts. But for different reasons we both have traveled recently in the region, conversing with people with deep and strong views about the security and cultural clashes ricocheting dangerously around the Pacific. Three takeaways to keep in mind in the context of Obama’s trip. (1) Americans typically don’t begin to appreciate the intensity of mistrust and plain contempt between East Asian nations. On a visit to Beijing a couple months ago, it didn’t matter who—older government officials, affluent, Western-oriented young people—all boiled over with disdain for Japan, and its World War II atrocities in China. Similar feelings are common in Korea. (2) This is scary stuff. Many Republicans think Putin’s provocations in Ukraine vindicate Mitt Romney’s 2012 assertions that Russia remains America’s greatest geopolitical adversary, but that still strikes us as a narrow view of the world. The risks of a different kind of cold war, or even a hot war started through miscalculation, occasioned by China’s bursting (and entirely understandable) global ambitions and the regional reaction to those seems to us the much more vexing issue for the current and next generation of policymakers and security intellectuals. (3) These issues may seem exotic now, but … the domestic resonance of these policy issues is going to grow dramatically for the next couple presidents. Asian-Americans have overtaken Hispanics as the largest subgroup of incoming immigrants: http://goo.gl/1uX3aR They're not a monolithic group by any means, and as if navigating the actual diplomacy in Asia is hard enough, just ask Terry McAuliffe how directly these questions can ripple back home: http://goo.gl/olhq5u

FRIDAY TALKER – GORE SPEAKS – IN POLITICO MAG – The former vice president, who is “richer and skinnier than ever,” predicts to Darren Samuelsohn that a “tipping point” is at hand in the climate debate and offered his candid thoughts … on Obama and climate: “I’d say that his election night speech in November of 2012, and his inaugural address and his State of the Union address that year and his speech last June, you take those four together that’s a very, those were very powerful statements. The addition of John Podesta to the West Wing staff has made a difference. The priority being placed by Secretary Kerry on climate is quite impressive. The activities of the EPA head Gina McCarthy are very impressive. … Would I like to see more? Of course I would like to see more”… On Clinton 2016: “I don’t have any doubt that her heart is in the right place on the issue and that she would like to be an agent for positive change on the issue.” … On whether he’d ever run again: I am a recovering politician. And the longer I avoid a relapse the more confidence that I will not succumb to the temptation to run yet again. But I’m a recovering politician. I’ll just leave it at that.” … And much more:http://goo.gl/pC2QAW

WHAT THEY’RE ASKING WARREN ON HER BOOK TOUR: “Will you please run for president?” … “What can we say tonight to change your mind [about 2016]?” … MJ Lee is on the road with the Bay Stater in New York and Massachusetts: “The first stops of her cross-country book tour this week in New York City and Cambridge offered a vivid snapshot of the intense, passionately liberal following Warren has amassed … Since taking office, Warren, 64, has been relentlessly guarded, ignoring reporters’ questions in Capitol Hill hallways and staying strictly on message in media appearances. This week, Warren looked relaxed and energized by the enthusiasm of her supporters, working the rope lines with the ease of a seasoned politician … ‘I will be calling on people in the back row,” the former law professor said. ‘You can always tell a teacher.’ … [A]ny Democratic presidential hopeful will have to convince the Warren wing of the party that they get it. The conversations [with audience members] also revealed that enthusiasm for Warren often goes hand-in-hand with wariness of a President Hillary Clinton.” http://goo.gl/15c0gz

MORE – TRENDSPOTTING ON AMAZON: “Elizabeth Warren, Thomas Piketty, Michael Lewis Books Surging Online,” by HuffPost’s Mollie Reilly: “If Amazon's top-sellers list is any indication, Americans are fed up with rising income inequality. As of Thursday evening, Sen. Elizabeth Warren's new memoir, A Fighting Chance, is the number two best-selling book on Amazon, trailing only Thomas Piketty's Capital In The Twenty-First Century. Michael Lewis' Flash Boys, which exposes the world of high-frequency traders, is number five.” http://goo.gl/Zx4v6N

STAFFING UP – AMERICA RISING GETS A BIGGER BOAT – The GOP tracking and research outfit will announce the hiring of two new staff members today: Jeff Bechdel, Mitt Romney’s former Florida comms chief and recently of the Revolution Agency, will serve as the group’s communications director. Shoshana Weisman is coming on board as a digital associate after founding Networking Red while a student at GW. Follow them on the Twitters: @senatorshoshana, @jeets

LAST NIGHT – EMILY’S LIST RELAUNCH: At a reception for the powerful Democratic group last night, EMILY’s List president Stephanie Schriock promised to “ignite change across the country” and called a Babe Ruth-style shot for its candidates in 2014.“Keep your eyes on Mary Burke,” Schriock said, boosting Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s challenger. She floated “something of a sweep in the Northeast,” with Democratic women running for governor in Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. On top of the group’s six targeted Senate races, she said, the next year “is about building for success this November – and again in 2016.”

** A message from the Government of Canada: America and Canada are standing together for energy independence. Canada proudly delivers 2.5 million barrels of oil daily to the U.S. and is America’s most secure and environmentally responsible choice. Canada: America’s ideal energy partner. Learn more at GoWithCanada.ca

TURNESS BACKS GREGORY – In an internal memo, the president of NBC News writes that they have their man for “Meet the Press” and they’re sticking with him: “There has been a great deal written about Meet the Press in the past few days, much of it quite ludicrous. I wanted to reach out to reiterate my support for the show and for David, now and into the future, as we work together to evolve the format.” http://goo.gl/O8SXTT

--NOT A SHRINK -- A source close to “Meet the Press” tells Mike by phone: “This narrative has built up over the week about a psychological consultant. The idea that there was a psychological consultant or shrink or psychologist is a complete fiction. This was a branding specialist. Our marketing team came to us and said: 'We have done this with other people.' It’s an effort to identify strengths to capture and promote. Gossip just has blown it out of control, into something nuts.”

BIBI DROPS THE CURTAIN – After the announcement of a pact between Palestinian governing faction Fatah and the militant group Hamas, the Israeli PM told Andrea Mitchell the agreement would effectively halt the peace process. Netanyahu: “Hamas could stop sending suicide bombers into our midst. They could do all that, and that would be good. But in fact, they continue to do all that, continue to call for our annihilation. And now, President Abbas, instead of embracing peace with Israel, has embraced them. He can't have both. He really has to choose, peace with Israel or pact with Hamas.”

KERRY’S RESPONSE – Via the Globe: “‘There is always a way forward,’ Kerry told reporters in brief remarks at the State Department. However, Kerry said Israeli and Palestinian leaders need to make necessary compromises so that the nine months of negotiations can continue after an April 29 deadline. If they won't, he said, peace ‘becomes very elusive.’ …State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Kerry spoke privately with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas expressed his disapproval of the plans to create a reconciliation government with Hamas …” http://goo.gl/h7mFg8

MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH … The Review-Journal, “Cliven Bundy repeats racist comments in press conference: “Standing at a podium on a flatbed trailer overlooking the Virgin River, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, the 67-year-old rehashed his sentiments that ‘the Negro community’ living in Las Vegas Valley public housing looks like slaves to him. … All he meant, he said, is that he’s ‘been a-wondering’ if black people were better off under the yoke of slavery than they are in today’s welfare state …” Backpedaling former Bundy fans include: Rick Perry http://goo.gl/8JNzar ... Rand Paul http://goo.gl/8JNzar ... Sean Hannity http://goo.gl/KDrXea ... Glenn Beckhttp://goo.gl/2qpmCM

WE’LL SAY IT AGAIN: This is why you think twice before jumping on the bandwagon of a man you’ve never met, who won’t pay his grazing fees.

ANOTHER GREAT DAY FOR PRIMARY CHALLENGERS … In South Carolina, POLITICO’s Manu Raju finds the newest genius of the week: “Det Bowers, a pastor challenging Lindsey Graham in the South Carolina GOP Senate primary, once blamed women for causing most divorces — even when husbands are unfaithful … Bowers said it was an ‘abominable idolatry’ when wives love their children more than their husbands … He added that in the ‘vast preponderance’ of situations where men are adulterous, women are to blame …” http://goo.gl/OCWKrK ... And in Kentucky, Matt Bevin gets crosswise on cockfighting: “When he was finished, he was asked a direct question.’Will you vote to support the effort to legalize gamecock fighting in the state of Kentucky?’ asked [activist Dave] Devereaux. … ‘Criminalizing behavior, if it's part of the heritage of this state, is in my opinion a bad idea. … will not support it,’ said Bevin …” http://goo.gl/V4liQw

THEY BOUGHT A ZOO (ELECTION)? From the department of the-way-we-live-now, a report from Ohio on the Koch-backed goliath Americans for Prosperity playing in … a referendum about funding the Columbus Zoo. WOSU: “The Virginia-based group, Americans for Prosperity, has sent mailers to some households in Franklin County urging a ‘no’ vote on Issue 6, a proposed 1.25 mill property tax levy for the Columbus Zoo … ‘We are engaged in local issues, in state issues, on federal issues. There is no issue we won’t get involved in if you’re going to raise taxes,’ says [AFP state director Eli] Miller.” http://goo.gl/qmlS4K

BUT SERIOUSLY, FOLKS: This isn’t just a quirky local-interest story. The explosive growth of lavishly-funded, national ideological groups has already had a trickle-down effect on local races that’s only going to continue in the years ahead. Remember the Kochs’ investment school board races in Colorado’s Douglas County? http://goo.gl/lDKl44 Or Tom Steyer’s spending on local council races in Washington state’s Whatcom County, where the fate of a proposed coal terminal was at stake? http://goo.gl/J5eKKw Readers, this show is coming soon to a theater near you …

BRIDGE BABY! American Bridge’s Eddie Vale emails the happy news: “COO Jessica Mackler and her husband Geoff Mackler just welcomed James Mattson Mackler into the world. We're working on getting baby's first lexis account.”

ROBERT KEITH GRAY—One of the perils for people fortunate enough to live to very old age is that by the time they pass away the reasons why they were once important people have receded in public memory. We have this thought about long-time Washingtonian Bob Gray--who was for 30 years, from Eisenhower to Reagan, a very big deal in the capital. Gray died in Florida on April 18 at age 92. The Washington Post did not get around to a relatively low-key obit until two days ago http://goo.gl/tEWALn, and Playbook is catching up with that only now.

Gray, silver-haired and silver-tongued, was Eisenhower’s appointments secretary (“I personally saw more of the president than anyone but Mamie,” he recalled later) then became head of Hill & Knowlton’s Washington office for twenty years. He left in the Reagan years to start Gray & Co., which in the way these go was acquired several years later for a big wad of cash by none other than Hill & Knowlton.

Gray was a Washington innovator in a couple ways. He symbolized the shift away from presidential aides feigning that they had "a passion for anonymity." As an Eisenhower aide in the 1950s, he visited his alma mater Carleton College (class of ’43) by assigning himself a military helicopter to land in the middle of the small rural campus, rather than making a 40-minute drive from the Twin Cities. Soon after leaving the White House, he published a memoir, “18 acres Under Glass.”

But it was as a lobbyist that he made his mark. Gray & Co. was housed in a Georgetown office unsubtly called the Power House, and helped pioneer the now-common practice of merging lobbying and public affairs practices under one shop. To critics, he represented the access-driven, values-neutral, mercenary ethos that now pervades the capital’s influence industry. (Clients included Big Tobacco, a Haitian dictatorship, and Save the Whales.) Gray saw himself in a different light. In a 1983 interview with one of your guest authors for the Carletonian, he said he represented a shift in lobbying away from its historic reliance on “the three Bs—booze, blonds, and bribes” to influence lawmakers toward something more professional. “This isn’t a surface business,” he said. “It’s a deep, challenging intellectual business. The challenge is to have the best argument and take that argument to the right place….And if I don’t have the most compelling argument my best friend in Congress will vote against me.”

LOOKING AHEAD – ATTN. RUSHBO – The McCain Institute announces a weekend appearance by Hillary Clinton: “Clinton will participate in a conversation with U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) at the McCain Institute's annual Sedona Forum on Saturday, April 26.” McCain quote: “From her years of service as first lady, in the U.S. Senate and at the State Department, one would be hard-pressed to find a leader with Secretary Clinton's informed perspective on the many challenges facing America across the globe.” http://goo.gl/oX3aEJWe wonder: Who’s bringing the shots? http://goo.gl/PXsrNl

TWEET DU JOUR – From ‏@billclinton: Sending my best to Bob Dole as he visits all 105 counties in Kansas. An incredible tour for an incredible public servant. cc @DoleInstitute

RESTAURANT INTRIGUE: “D.C. Restaurateur Accused of Sabotaging Operations, Stealing Vespa,” by WSJ’s Katy Stech: “Investors who bought several restaurants … [on] Capitol Hill…are accusing the D.C. restaurateur who sold the eateries of sabotaging the restaurants in a scheme to take them back. …Lawyers for eight restaurants including Hawk ‘n’ Dove, Molly Malone’s and Boxcar Tavern said in new court papers that Xavier Cervera, who became a consultant for the restaurants in August after selling the restaurants in late 2012, intentionally hindered their performance … Lawyers have been trying to recover a black Vespa GTS 300 and artwork that they say Mr. Cervera took after selling the restaurants.”http://goo.gl/bv3k1C

DESSERT: JON STEWART ON CLIVEN BUNDY - Mediaite's Josh Feldman: "Jon Stewart opened Thursday night’s Daily Show going after Cliven Bundy‘s racist remarks, remarking that 'In a surprising twist, states rights sovereign citizen Cliven Bundy is also apparently a professor of Negro studies.' Stewart also mocked Bundy for saying he’s like the Founding Fathers, explaining 'the bit of you that’s like our Founding Fathers is the bit of them that we’re ashamed of.'" Watch the video:http://goo.gl/qGNmJm

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